Whether 2009 was good for films is a matter of debate. But it was definitely a fantastic year for movie goers who like big explosions.

From the worst action movie to the Academy Award best picture winner, stuff just kept blowing up last year, every Friday, week after week. It would seem impossible for 2010 to match the pyrotechnics of movies such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. (Not to mention nonsummer explosion-fests such as Avatar and The Hurt Locker.)

And yet, after spending half a day watching all of the summer movie trailers available online, it was hard to find a film that didn’t have a billowing fireball somewhere in the plotline. Even Toy Story 3 has a scene featuring enough explosions to level a Mr. Potato Head factory.

Below is a list of this year’s summer movies, with special attention to the eight that we’re looking forward to the most based on the trailers (plus a mediocre-looking ninth — some vampire movie the kids keep talking about). The number of explosions in the trailer, movie poster taglines and bizarre/awesome cameos were included wherever possible.

•Did you know?:To prepare for his role as Whiplash nee Ivan Vanko, Mickey Rourke spent three hours inside a high-security Russian prison in Moscow. He spent time in a cell, ate a prison meal and played pingpong with a guard.

•Analysis:The summer is bookended by Rourke, as it should be. In Iron Man 2, the actor plays a whip-wielding bad guy who teams with an arms manufacturer — and apparently the government — to stop playboy Tony Stark’s easy-going crimefighting lifestyle. Director Jon Favreau had a nice touch with the first film, and the trailer looks spectacular. We might just watch this movie over and over until Inception comes to theaters.

•Did you know?:Russell Crowe is the oldest actor to play Robin Hood in a film. Crowe was 45 at the time of shooting and worried so much about his looks and age, he crash dieted before filming started.

•Analysis:Ridley Scott’s update of the Robin Hood myth doesn’t look like the director is trying anything new, and Crowe seems a bit old for an origin story of the iconic figure. But the action appears to nonstop — reminiscent of that awesome first battle scene in Scott’s Gladiator, except stretched out into a two-hour movie. Max von Sydow, who plays Sir Walter Loxley, could make a Jamie Kennedy movie look classy.

•Analysis:We’re about as far away from the Sex and the City demographic as possible, but this looks like a huge improvement from the flawed first movie. A trip to Dubai fits into the plot, John Corbett’s Aidin character returns and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) seems to have eaten a sandwich or two since the first movie — her arms don’t look like Madonna’s any more.

Other movies in May:Queen Latifah is a physical therapist in Just Wright (May 14), who falls in love with a basketball star … Shrek and Donkey return in Shrek Forever After (May 21), the first 3-D entry to the popular franchise … based on the trailer, MacGruber (May 21) looks like a better-than-average Saturday Night Live spinoff, but can Will Forte stretch one joke into 90 minutes? … Video game movies are almost always terrible, but Disney invested a lot of money and hired Jake Gyllenhaal for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (May 28).

•Did you know?:Russell Brand accidentally set himself on fire while shooting concert footage for the film. A spark from pyrotechnics onstage ignited his costume. He escaped without injury.

•Analysis:Easily the funniest trailer in a summer that looks a little weak for comedies. Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller reunites with Jonah Hill and Brand, as a record company assistant who has 72 hours to usher a big star to a heavily promoted concert. Hill is refreshingly understated (he doesn’t scream all of his lines) and Brand appears to be playing a more decadent version of his Sarah Marshall character.

•Did you know?:Woody Harrelson and Ice Cube were considered for roles in the film, as Murdock and B.A. Baracus respectively.

•Analysis:Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper head a group of mercenaries … imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit. The first trailer looked flat, but the second shows a movie that balances the humor and self-seriousness that the 1980s television show possessed. Mixed martial arts star Quinton "Rampage" Jackson appears to have matched the intensity (not the voice) of Mr. T, although no one will replace Dwight Schultz as Murdock. (Schultz has a cameo in the movie.)

•Did you know?:This will be the first Pixar film to be released in IMAX.

•Analysis:Third sequels are usually where film franchises go to hell, but we’re putting our faith in the Pixar camp, which hasn’t let us down yet. Disney at one time was going to make a sequel without Pixar, reportedly featuring Buzz Lightyear getting recalled in Taiwan. Pixar got the movie back, and this one features the gang getting donated to a preschool — filled with toys that may be much more sinister than they seem.

•Did you know?:Kristen Stewart wore brown contact lenses to play Bella because she has green eyes and the character’s eyes are supposed to be brown.

•Analysis:We wanted to pick The Last Airbender,The Adjustment Bureau or The Expendables (12 explosions!) as our ninth movie, but fear of the wrath of Team Edward and Team Jacob elevates this second Twilight sequel to expanded treatment. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner return for their human-vampire-wolf love triangle. Suggestion: Jacob and Edward should pair up, and Stewart should go back to Jesse Eisenberg’s character in Adventureland. Maybe that happens in the next sequel.

Other movies in June:Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley experiment with DNA and unleash a man-monster in Splice (June 4) … The True Lies formula gets replicated in Killers (June 4), about a husband (Ashton Kutcher) who neglects to tell his wife (Katherine Heigl) he’s a spy … kids and parents with nothing to do until the next Toy Story comes out will have to pray that Marmaduke (June 4) is better than the comic strip … Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s kid remake the classic The Karate Kid (June 11) … The comic book Jonah Hex (June 18) comes to the big screen, with Josh Brolin looking way too handsome as the brooding facially scarred bounty hunter … Tom Cruise returns to a romantic role, pairing with Cameron Diaz as fugitives on the run in Knight and Day (June 25) … Adam Sandler returns to his arrested development roots, pairing with Kevin James, Chris Rock and Rob Schneider in Grown Ups (June 25).

•Did you know?:Stuntman Derek Mears, who will portray a Predator in the film, also had a role as another horror icon – Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th.

•Analysis:Most fans of 1980s action movies recognize Predator as one of the best of the era, if not the entire genre. After three bad sequels featuring the alien predators, Robert Rodriguez rescues the franchise, hand-picking director Nimród Antel. The trailer looks a lot like the original, with a team of overconfident badasses led by Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne, a stealthy predator and one token hot woman in the cast. We’re cautiously optimistic.

Inception

•Opens:July 16

•Tagline:"Your mind is the scene of the crime"

•Explosions in trailer:Two

•Awesome cameo:Tom Berenger as Browning

•Did you know?:Inceptionmarks the first Christopher Nolan feature since 1998 that is a completely original film and not based on other works.

•Analysis:The trailer makes absolutely no sense, and we still can’t wait for this to come out. After two great Batman films, Christopher Nolan seems to be returning to his mind-bending Memento roots. The story features Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief trying to steal some kind of device that turns the world into an M.C. Escher painting. It’s a story-driven movie, but the special effects look fantastic.

Salt

•Opens:July 23

•Tagline:Who is Salt?

•Explosions in trailer:One

•Awesome cameo:None to speak of, but there is one Frosty Lawson who plays the role of CIA Agent. The first name Frosty is pretty cool.

•Did you know?:Originally, the script was set to star Tom Cruise as Agent Salt, but he turned it down.

•Analysis:Angelina Jolie, who has already flexed her action hero muscles in films like Wanted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Tomb Raider movies, stars as sort of a female Jason Bourne in this CIA-exile-on-the-run thriller. She must prove her innocence in the face of doubt when she is accused of being a Russian spy.

Other movies in July:The popular franchise The Last Airbender (July 2) gets a stylish and expensive looking treatment, with M. Night Shyamalan directing … Steve Carell is Gru in Despicable Me (July 9) an animated comedy about a supervillain who inherits three orphan girls … Nicolas Cage is a modern-day sorcerer who mentors a dorky pupil (Jay Baruchel) in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (July 16) … Two of children’s author Beverly Cleary’s most beloved characters get a modern update in Ramona and Beezus (July 23) … Austin Powers director Jay Roach finds comedy in Dinner for Schmucks, about a businessman (Paul Rudd) who brings a buffoon (Steve Carell) to dinner hoping to win a contest … Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick (what isn’t?), The Adjustment Bureau (July 30) features Matt Damon and Emily Blunt as lovers kept apart by a mysterious force … Beastly (July 30) updates the Beauty and the Beast mythos, with High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens taking on weightier material.

Movies in August:Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are bumbling cops in The Other Guys (Aug. 6), by Talladega Nights and Anchorman director Adam McKay … Luke Wilson becomes an unwitting Internet porn mogul in Middle Men (Aug. 6) … By popular demand, the makers of Step Up 3D (Aug. 6) show people getting served in three dimensions … Sylvester Stallone directs a who’s who of 1980s action stars (plus a few modern ones) in The Expendables (Aug. 13) … A love-struck young man (Michael Cera) must do battle with the evil ex-boyfriends of the woman he loves in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Aug. 13) … Julia Roberts is the lead in Eat Pray Love (Aug. 13), based on the popular novel about a woman who travels the world to find her independence.